Ballots returned: June 12, 2018

DENVER, June 12, 2018 -- Colorado Secretary of State Wayne Williams announced today that his office will report ballot returns in a different way in order to accommodate questions about unaffiliated voters.

As of 12:07 a.m., 134,038 Coloradans have returned ballots.

This is the first primary election where unaffiliated voters are allowed to automatically participate. Unaffiliated voters who expressed a preference for a Republican or Democrat ballot were sent that party's ballot, but those who did not were sent both ballots with the caveat: Only vote one. If you vote both, neither ballot will count.

Williams in March launched the UChooseCO campaign to stress to unaffiliated voters to pick a ballot.

The office will release ballot returns today, Thursday, next Tuesday, June 19, and then every weekday after that through the June 26 primary.

The turnout data is broken down by gender, age, county and party. "Democrats" refers to ballots for Democratic candidates, whether those ballots were cast by Democrats or unaffiliated voters who expressed a preference. The same goes for "Republicans." The 55,584 number refers to Republican ballots, not affiliated Republicans voters.

"In Progress" or "Packets" refers to ballots returned by unaffiliated voters who received both ballots. Clerks have received 25,502 envelopes from unaffiliated voters. Future reports are will indicate which ballot those voters chose. We appreciate your patience.

The office will release ballot returns today, Thursday, next Tuesday, June 19, and then every weekday after that through the June 26 primary.